​How to Make a Map Shadowbox

​How to Make a Map Shadowbox

By Abigail McMurray

Have you ever noticed how places are always an important part of the story? Whether the story is a fairy tale, a fable, or what happened Tuesday afternoon, there's always a setting. Over time, you collect places that are important to your story, whether that's a home, a park, a school or campus, an office, a restaurant, a town, a state, a region, a country, or all of the above. My work is about celebrating places, and I love to do that by preserving memories of them with paper - something that is everywhere, and usually so ephemeral and fragile, but cut and sculpted and framed becomes an heirloom.

Whether you join me in designing and creating your own paper place, or follow along with the video to learn how to add some of your own story to one of the Maker Cities, you can also mark and celebrate a part of your story of place!

The beautiful thing about working with paper is that if you wanted to you could make something wonderful with just your hands--origami masters create intricate sculptures by simply folding paper--but there's also a whole world of different tools that will allow you to achieve various effects. For this project we're using two different Garrett Wade tools:

The Japanese Woodcarving knife that's actually designed to cut wood, but also cuts through heavy paper like butter (paper is just really soft wood, right?)

The Rolling Sharp which does roll, and is sharp enough to cut through lightweight paper, but not so sharp that it will cut through your skin. This tool is ergonomic and very nimble - perfect for cutting whatever shape you can imagine, as long as the paper is thin.

The video tutorial will also show the yeiou paper objects Make Your Own Map Shadowbox Kit, which contains all of the supplies you need to, well, make your own map shadowbox! 

Including:

Instruction booklet

Shadowbox Frame

Paper for the map cut-out as well as the background

The funny thing about remembering and celebrating places, is that they then become part of the story of the place you are now. If you'd like to share your paper places online, tag @yeioupaperobjects and @garrettwade_tools on Instagram, and use #yeioupaperplaces!

About the author:

Abigail is the Chief Paper Folder at Yeiou Paper Objects. She, so far, seems to be able to make just about anything out of paper (especially given the proper tools for the job). Her paper house portraits have been featured on Etsy, NBC, and Apartment Therapy. She lives near Boston, MA with her family and feline studio assistant, and spends a lot of quality time with her collection of paper cutting tools.